 RFE/RL Central Asia Report 12/1/2009 6:27:15 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the five countries of Central Asia.For more stories on Central Asia, please visit and bookmark our Central Asia page . |
 Uzbekistan Withdrawing From Regional Power Grid Uzbekistan says it is withdrawing from a regional power grid that unites it with three neighboring countries. Tashkent says the "outdated and unreliable" Soviet-era system is creating conflicts among the member states and that it imperils electricity supplies to Uzbekistan’s domestic consumers. But the move could leave Uzbekistan’s impoverished neighbors, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, facing severe electricity shortages in winter. More  German Oil Firm Says Turkmen Gas Important For EU Supplies A leading German oil producer working on a Turkmen natural gas field says that energy reserves in Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea are an important supply of energy for the European Union, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports. More  Prosecutor Asks For Eight-Year Jail Sentence For Former Kyrgyz Minister The prosecutor in the trial of former Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov has asked for an eight-year jail sentence, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  Protest Against Kyrgyz Utility Hikes Refused Over Flu Fears Officials in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh say they refused permission for a protest march because of worries about the spread of swine flu, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  HRW Urges Kazakhstan To Improve Rights Situation Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the international community to demand that the Kazakh government improve the country’s human rights situation before it leads the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in January, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More The Tajik Foreign Ministry says Uzbekistan's decision to quit the Central Asian power grid is politically motivated, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Alleged IMU Terrorists Go On Trial In Tajikistan A court in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Province has begun trying two suspected terrorists, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia To Establish Customs Union Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev is in Minsk ahead of a Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec) summit where Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan are to form a customs union, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports. More  Stuck In Turkmenistan, Muslim Pilgrims Are Improvising As Muslims around the world prepare for this year's hajj, those from Turkmenistan won't be among them. Fears of swine flu have led the Turkmen government to ban citizens from making the trip to Mecca. Instead, a delegation of officials and elders has embarked on a first-ever official pilgrimage to 38 "holy" sites within Turkmenistan itself. More  'The Tragic Destiny Of Kazakh People Living Abroad' Eighty-five-year-old Qazhyghumar Shabdanuly of Kazakhstan has spent more than 40 years in Chinese jails for his political views and is currently under house arrest in Xinjiang. Six novels that he's written have just been published in Almaty. More  Uzbekistan Says Closed Kazakh Border Due To Flu Uzbekistan said today it had closed the border with Central Asian neighbor Kazakhstan as part of a seasonal antiflu quarantine. More  UN Says Violence Against Women 'Pervasive' Violation Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women -- a reminder of a problem that the UN says has reached pandemic proportions. Women from across RFE/RL’s broadcast region have shared some of their own harrowing stories of abuse, and in some cases, of escape and recovery. More  'Sick Of The U.S., Send Me Back To Uzbekistan' Ruslan Sharipov, a U.S.-based Uzbek dissident and the only openly gay Uzbek journalist, says he is “disappointed with American democracy” and wants to return home. More  U.S. 'Will Not Force Values' On Central Asia, Envoy Says The U.S. deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, George Krol, says in an interview with RFE/RL that although the United States seeks democratic changes in the five Central Asian countries, it is not attempting to "force its values or institutions" on them. Instead, the United States offers regional heavyweights Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan dialogue which respects the sovereignty of their governments. More  Energy Dreams Call For Desperate Measures Lacking the foreign funding needed to complete the long-delayed Roghun dam, Tajik leaders are calling on ordinary citizens to donate a month's salary to fund the effort. But many Tajiks wonder whether the government can't find better donors than its own impoverished people. More  Tajikistan Must Properly Prosecute Violence Against Women, Amnesty Urges In a new report, the rights watchdog Amnesty International demands that authorities in Tajikistan properly prosecute violence against women as a criminal offense. More  Kazakh Activists Demand Hospitalization Of Jailed Official Well-known Kazakh public figure Murat Auezov and opposition Azat Party official Bolat Abilov have called on Kazakh officials to provide proper medical treatment to Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the jailed former director of Kazakh uranium-production giant KazAtomProm, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More Officials in the Kyrgyz capital have introduced a quarantine in all Bishkek schools until November 30 due to a flu epidemic, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  In Tajikistan, Free Information Comes At A Price The Tajik government has introduced a new decree obliging journalists to pay for information obtained from officials, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More |
